Nut Cracker- 3rd Style

I saw this style nut cracker in an antique shop in Ohio and made a mock up to see how it worked. The original one had two round ends with the pins running through them and some kind of black plastic or bakelite plate to keep the pins in, but it was all disintegrated. I made mine just little differently. First, with my arthritis, it is hard to grip and turn round things like jar lids, so I first turned some handle on the top and bottom plates. Then I added a 1 1/2” hole in the top to load the nut and to empty it. This goes real fast with that in there.

Originally, I had small holes in the end of the pins and ran a piece of 45# leader wire through all of them to hold the pins in. While twisting, I broke both of the wires. so I cut off the ends of all the pins and drilled a hole straight into them and glued in maple caps so they are held individually and don’t get any torque on the holding device.

I added a shot of the cracked pecan.If anyone is interested in the sizes, the plates are 5/8 thick. The pins are 3/4” diameter and 7 1/2” long. The plates are 4” diameter and 2 1/2” diameter. I put 4 – 7/16” holes in each plate the the caps are .55” diameter.I offset the handles at 90 degrees because it is more natural for holding and twisting than if they were in line.

It is made out of ash and finished with 3 coats of Formby’s Tung Oil finish.

Cheers, Jim

-- Jim Jakosh.....Practical Wood Products...........Learn something new every day!! Variety is the Spice of Life!!

That is a neat design Jim! It sounds odd to hear antique and plastic in the same reference. I like your modification of adding the handles to make it arthritic hand friendly. The device itself looks like something you’d see in Reminisce Magazine on the “Can you identify this?” page!! heeheehee Nice job. Thanks for sharing!